Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.115, No.20, 9557-9562, 2001
Trap influenced properties of the delayed luminescence in thin solid films of the conjugated polymer poly(9,9-di(ethylhexyl)fluorene)
Spectra, kinetics, temperature, and excitation-dose dependencies of phosphorescence and delayed fluorescence intensities in thin films of the conjugated polymer poly(9,9-di(ethylhexyl)fluorene) [PF2/6] have been investigated via time-resolved spectroscopy. The results reflect a limited number of available energy sites (traps) for triplet-excited states in the long time region after laser excitation. Triplets captured in these traps decay mono-exponential with a time constant of several 100 ms. In the first few milliseconds after laser excitation, pronounced delayed fluorescence is observed due to triplet-triplet annihilation. The decay kinetics of the delayed fluorescence obeys a power law at all times in accordance with the framework in which triplets find each other after performing a random walk (hopping) in an energetic disordered media, which is represented by variations of the conjugation length in the polymer.